Wikipedia:Writing about women

When writing about women on Wikipedia, make sure the content and titles do not inadvertently use sexist language or promote sexist stereotypes.

Women comprise between 8.5 and 16.1 percent of editors on the English Wikipedia. This means that most articles are written by men, as are most of the content policies, including the notability and referencing policies. Those policies in turn determine which articles about women can be hosted, and frame many of the ways in which they are written. The combined effects of personnel and policies, then, may be responsible for the gender imbalance of our content. As of January 2015 only 15.5 percent of the 1,445,021 biographies on the English Wikipedia were about women. As a result of sourcing and notability issues, almost all biographies before the 20th century are of men.

Achieving gender balance, diversity and fairness is in the interests of all editors and readers, female and male. This page may help to identify the subtle and more obvious ways in which titles, language, images and linking practices on the English Wikipedia can discriminate against women.

Male is not the default

See also: Other § Gender studies and Androcentrism

Avoid language and images that make male the Self and female the Other. Researchers have found that Wikipedia articles about women are more likely to contain words such as woman, female and lady, than articles about men are to contain the male equivalents. This suggests that editors see male as the default or "null gender," and that biographies are assumed to be of men unless otherwise stated.

Avoid labeling a woman as a female author or female politician, unless her gender is explicitly relevant to the article. In April 2013 several media stories noted that editors on the English Wikipedia had begun moving women from Category:American novelists to Category:American women novelists, while leaving men in the main category. Linguists call this markedness: treating a man who is a writer as a "writer" and a woman as a "woman writer" presents women as "marked," or the Other, requiring an adjective to differentiate them from the male default.

Use surnames

See also: MOS:LASTNAME

Use caution when referring to a woman by her first name, which can serve to infantilize her. As a rule, after the initial introduction ("Susan Smith is an Australian anthropologist"), refer to women by their surnames ("Smith is the author of ..."). Here is an example of the inappropriate use of a woman's first name.

First names are sometimes needed for clarity. For example, when writing about a family with the same surname, after the initial introductions they can all be referred to by first names. A first name might also be used when a surname is long and double-barreled, and its repetition would be awkward to read and write. When a decision is made to use first names for editorial reasons, consider using them for both women and men.

Writing the lead

Importance of the lead

"First woman"

[T]he Bechdel-inspired Finkbeiner-test about scientific women ... mention[s] that an article about a woman does not pass the test if it mentions "How she's the 'first woman to ....'" Despite being informal, the Finkbeiner-test raises awareness on how gender becomes more important than the actual achievements of a person.

— Graells-Garrido et al (2015)

Graells-Garrido et al (2015) write that the lead is a "good proxy for any potential biases expressed by Wikipedia contributors." The lead may be the only part of an article that is read—especially on mobile devices—and infoboxes are an important source of metadata (see DBpedia), so pay particular attention to how women are described at the top of an article. For example, the word spouse is more likely to appear in a woman's infobox than in a man's. Again, giving women "marked" treatment can convey subtle assumptions to readers.

First woman

See also: Finkbeiner test

Avoid language that places being a woman ahead of the subject's achievements. Opening the lead with "A was the first woman to do X" or "A was the first female X" immediately defines her in terms of men who have done the same thing, and can inadvertently imply: "She may not have been a very good X, but at least she was the first woman." For example, as of 10 March 2015, Wikipedia describes Russian chemist Anna Volkova solely in terms of four first-woman benchmarks.

When prioritizing that the subject is a "first woman," make sure it really is the only notable material available about her. Wherever possible start with her own position or accomplishments. The biographies of Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher, as of the same date, begin with the positions they held, and only then say that they are the only women to have held them.

Relationships

Defining women by their relationships

Researchers have found that Wikipedia articles about women are more likely to discuss their family and romantic relationships, and sexuality, while articles about men are more likely to contain words about cognitive processes and work. For example, women's biographies mention marriage and divorce more often than men's biographies do. Biographies on the English Wikipedia that refer to the subject's divorce are 4.4 times more likely to be about a woman. The figures are similar on the German, Russian, Spanish, Italian and French Wikipedias.

Wherever possible, avoid defining a notable woman, particularly in the title or first sentence, in terms of her relationships (wife/mother/daughter of). Do not begin a biography with: "Susan Smith is the daughter of historian Frank Smith and wife of actor John Jones. She is known for her work on game theory." An example of the kind of title the Wikipedia community has rejected is Sarah Brown (wife of Gordon Brown) (now a redirect to Sarah Jane Brown).

A woman's relationships will be prominently discussed if essential to her notability, but try to focus on her own notable roles or accomplishments first. For example, consider starting articles about women who were First Lady of the United States, which is a significant role, with "[Name of person] served as First Lady of the United States from [year] to [year]. She led projects on [policy field X] and [policy field Y], and was chair of the [name of organization] from [year X to year Y]" rather than "[Name of person] is/was the wife of President X. She was the daughter of [Name of notable person]. Her son [Name of notable person] is a well-known [name profession]."

Internal links

The focus on relationships in articles about women affects internal linking and therefore search-engine results. One study found that women on Wikipedia are more linked to men than men are linked to women. When writing an article about a woman, if you include an internal link to an article about a man, consider visiting the latter to check that it includes reciprocal information about the relationship; if it merits mention in the woman's article, it is likely germane to his. Failure to mention the relationship in both can affect search algorithms in a way that discriminates against women.

Language

Gender-neutral language

See also: MOS:GNL, Language and gender and Gender marking in job titles

Use gender-neutral nouns when describing professions and positions: actor, author, aviator, bartender, chair, comedian, firefighter, flight attendant, hero, poet, police officer. Avoid adding gender (female pilot, male nurse) unless the topic requires it.

Avoid referring to human beings as man or mankind; sentences such as "man has difficulty in childbirth" illustrate that these are not inclusive generic terms. Depending on the context, use humanity, humankind, human beings, women and men, or men and women.

Word order

The order in which groups are introduced – man and woman, male and female, Mr. and Mrs., husband and wife, brother and sister – has implications for their status, so consider alternating the order as you write.

Pronouns

See also: Gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns and Gender neutrality in English

The use of the generic he (masculine pronouns such as he, him, his) in sentences that might refer to women too is increasingly avoided. Instead of "each student must hand in his assignment," try rewriting the sentence in the plural: "students must hand in their assignments," unless the context is a boys' school. Other options include:

• writing out the alternatives – he or she, him or her, his or her; him/her, his/her;
• using a composite form for the nominative – s/he or s(he);
• using feminine pronouns ("each student must hand in her assignment") – this is often done to signal the writer's rejection of the generic he, the "linguistic equivalent of affirmative action";
• alternating between the masculine and feminine in different paragraphs or sections;
• rewriting the sentence to remove the pronoun ("student assignments must be handed in");
• using the plural even when referring to singular nouns or pronouns; this is known as the singular they ("each student must hand in their assignment"), and is most often used with someone, anyone, everyone, no one.

Singular they

Nominative (subject)	Accusative (object)	Dependent possessive pronoun	Independent possessive pronoun	Reflexive
When I tell someone a joke, they laugh.	When I greet a friend, I hug them.	When someone leaves the library, their book is stamped.	A friend lets me borrow theirs.	Each person drives there themselves (or, nonstandard, themself).

Marriage

When discussing a married woman, consider writing "A is married to B," instead of casting the male as possessor: "A is the wife of B." Avoid the expression man and wife, which generalizes the husband and marks the wife.

Avoid referring to a woman as Mrs. John Smith. When a source does this (for example, in an old citation), try to find and use the woman's own name, as in: Susan Smith (cited as Mrs. J. Smith), Book Title, Publisher, 1910.

When introducing a woman as the parent of an article subject, avoid the common construction, "Smith was born in 1960 to John Smith and his wife, Susan". Consider whether there is an editorial reason to begin with the father's name. If not, try "Susan Jones and her husband, John Smith" or, if the woman has taken her husband's name, "Susan Smith, née Jones, and her husband, John, or "Susan and John Smith." Where there are several examples of "X and spouse" in one article, alternate placing the male and female names first.

Girls, ladies

Do not refer to adult women as girls or ladies, unless using common expressions, proper nouns or titles that cannot otherwise be avoided (e.g., leading lady, lady-in-waiting, ladies' singles, Ladies' Gaelic Football Association, First Lady). The inappropriate use of ladies can be seen in Miss Universe 1956, which as of 12 March 2015 describes the event as having had "30 young ladies in the competition," and Mixer dance, which discusses "the different numbers of men and ladies."

Images

See also: Male gaze, Sexual objectification and Scopophilia

Avoid images that objectify women. In particular, do not use pornography images in articles that are not about pornography. Except when the topic is necessarily tied to it (examples: downblouse and upskirt), avoid examples of male-gaze imagery, where women are presented as objects of heterosexual male appreciation. When adding an image of part of a woman's body, consider cropping the image to focus on that body part.

When illustrating articles about women's health and bodies, make sure the image accurately represents the topic and would not mislead readers. Be particularly careful when using "before and after" images that purport to show the benefits of cosmetic treatment, including surgery. Check that the images really are of the same woman, and that the source of the images can be trusted. Use authoritative medical images wherever possible. The guidelines in the Wikipedia Manual of Style for images state that "...photographs taken in a pornography context would normally be inappropriate for articles about human anatomy."

Medical issues

Main page: Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources (medicine)

When writing about women's health, make sure medical claims are sourced according to the medical sourcing guideline, WP:MEDRS. As a rule this means avoiding primary sources, which in this context refers to papers about studies in which the authors participated. Rely instead on peer-reviewed secondary sources that offer an overview of several studies, such as systematic reviews published by medical journals.

Secondary sources acceptable for medical claims on Wikipedia include review articles (systematic reviews and literature reviews), meta-analyses and medical guidelines. To find these sources, enter the search term (e.g., mammography) into the National Institutes of Health search engine PubMed at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/, and select "reviews" from the "article types" menu; a PubMed search for review articles on "mammography" brings up this list. Or select "customize," then the article type (e.g., meta-analysis or guideline). The Cochrane Library is another good source of medical review articles.

To check an article type on PubMed (e.g., P. M. Otto, C. B. Blecher, "Controversies surrounding screening mammography", Missouri Medicine, 111(5), Sep–Oct 2014), open the drop-down menu "Publication Types, MeSH Terms" under the abstract; in this case, the classification is "review." When in doubt, ask for help at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Medicine.

Further reading

General

• Gender gap task force
• Teahouse, help for new editors
• User:Tony1/How to improve your writing
• Gender gap task force/Media and research
• Gender bias on Wikipedia
• Lists of women
• List of women's studies journals
• William Safire, "Language: Woman vs. female", The New York Times, 18 March 2007 (discusses using woman instead of female to modify nouns, as in "woman doctor").

Books, papers

(chronological)

• Robin Lakoff, "Language and women's place", Language in Society, 2(1), April 1973, pp. 45–80.
• Robin Lakoff, Language and Women's Place, New York: Harper & Row, 1975.
• Ann Bodine, "Androcentrism in prescriptive grammar: singular 'they,' sex-indefinite 'he,' and 'he or she'", Language in Society, 4, 1975, pp. 129–146.
• Casey Miller, Kate Swift, Words and Women: New Language in New Times, Anchor Press/ Doubleday, 1976.
• Dale Spender, Man Made Language, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980.
• Casey Miller, Kate Swift, The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing, Lippincott and Crowell, 1980.
• Sally McConnell-Ginet, "The origins of sexist language in discourse," in S. J. White and V. Teller (eds.), Discourse and Reading in Linguistics, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, New York: The New York Academy of Sciences, 1984, pp. 123–135.
• Francine Harriet Frank, Paula A. Treichler, Language, Gender, and Professional Writing, Modern Language Association of America, 1989.
• Deborah Cameron, Feminism and Linguistic Theory, London: Routledge, 1985; revised 2nd edition, 1992.
• Deborah Cameron (ed.), The Feminist Critique of Language: A Reader, London and New York: Routledge, 1990.
• Julia Penelope, Speaking Freely: Unlearning the Lies of the Fathers' Tongues, New York: Pergamon Press, 1990.
• Deborah Tannen, You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, New York: William Morrow, 1990.
• Penelope Eckert, Sally McConnell-Ginet, Language and Gender, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
• Anne Curzon, Gender Shifts in the History of English, University of Cambridge Press, 2003.
• Robin Lakoff, Language and Woman's Place (original text), in Robin Lakoff, Mary Bucholtz (ed.), Language and Woman's Place: Text and Commentaries, New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Susan Ehrlich, Miriam Meyerhoff, Janet Holmes (eds.), The Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, 2005; 2nd edition, 2014.
• Allyson Jule, A Beginner's Guide to Language and Gender, Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 2008.
• Greville G. Corbett (ed.), The Expression of Gender, Walter de Gruyter, 2014.